Moles Mark Milestone

The Moles, an association of individuals involved in the heavy construction industry, particularly on the East Coast, marks its 75th anniversary in 2012. The group kicked off the year in grand fashion with the annual Awards Dinner, held Jan. 25 at the New York Hilton.
Each year The Moles present one award each to a Member and a Non-Member. This year the awards were bestowed on Richard Wagman, Chairman and CEO of G.A. & F.C. Wagman Inc. (Non-Member Award), and Thomas Iovino, CEO of The Judlau Companies (Member Award).

Andrew Cuomo, current governor of New York and son of former governor Mario Cuomo, served as the keynote speaker. Cuomo spoke of the importance of construction in general, and infrastructure construction in particular, as a critical component in a health economy. Specifically, Cuomo called for increased use of public-private partnerships and design-build delivery as means to spur construction projects.

In addition to awards and member functions, The Moles has a scholarship fund that assists students with grants through 17 participating colleges and universities. The group is providing $175,000 in scholarship grants in the current academic year to help cultivate the next generation of engineers and builders.

Beavers Awards

While mentioning The Moles, it is worthwhile to mention their West Coast kin, The Beavers. That group held its annual awards dinner in Los Angeles on Jan. 13 with J. Doug Pruitt, Sundt Construction (Management Award), James M. Marquardt, J. F. Shea Co. Inc. (Supervision Award), William W. Edgerton, Jacobs Associates (Engineering Award) and Sam E. Baker Jr., Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker LLP (Service and Supply Award) receiving honors. The Beavers marked their 50th anniversary in 2005.

No-Dig Show

The No-Dig Show, held each year by the North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT), is being held at the Opryland Hotel March 11-15 in Nashville. I have been attending this events since 2001 through our association with Trenchless Technology, a sister publication to TBM. (That 2001 event, coincidently, was also held at the Opryland.) Through the years I have started to see more tunneling professionals attend the event.

A lot of the conference deals with pipe rehabilitation techniques, such as cured-in-place pipe, for small diameter water and sewer lines. There are tracks and technical presentations, however, dedicated to new installation techniques that include large-diameter directional drilling and microtunneling. If your company is involved in or considering smaller diameter work, you may want to check the agenda at: www.nodigshow.com.

Regards,

Jim Rush
Editor